ONE Direction's stateside success continued when they picked up three gongs at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The boyband - Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson - won the awards, known as Moonmen, for best pop video, best new artist and most share-worthy video at the event in Los Angeles.

Speaking from the stage where they performed their hit One Thing, Horan said: "We've grown up watching this show and to even be here is an honour."

Styles said the night had been "unbelievable", adding: "This was our favourite performance we've ever done. For us to be here in the first place is amazing, and to perform and win a Moonman is amazing."

The awards show kicked off with a performance by Rihanna who also took the top prize on the night, for video of the year, for her hit We Found Love.

Other awards saw Coldplay win best rock video and Chris Brown pick up the prizes for Best Male Video and Best Choreography, while there were performances by Pink and Frank Ocean.

Harry Potter star Emma Watson was among the presenters.

One Direction, who got together on the X Factor, became the first UK pop group to debut at number one on the US album chart earlier this year when Up All Night rocketed into the top spot on the Billboard chart.

More than 10,000 fans are estimated to have turned up to see the teen stars' first live TV performance in the US when they appeared on NBC's Today Show in Rockefeller Plaza, New York.

They sold 176,000 copies of the album in the US in the space of a week and it topped the digital charts within minutes of its release.